In a wireless communications system such as a 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN), an idle mobile device such as a user equipment (UE) that needs to transmit data to a fixed device such as an evolved node B (eNB) typically enters a connected mode and establishes a connection in order to transmit that data. In some scenarios, such as those involving machine-type communications, some network mobile devices may periodically and/or continually need to transmit small amounts of data. In various such cases, the resource overhead associated with establishing the connection may be substantial in comparison with the amount of resources used to convey the data itself. As such, techniques for connectionless small data transmission may be desirable, according to which mobile devices may transmit small data payloads without being required to establish connections.